For graduate student Simiyha, there is no average day of work. As one of the coaches at the Writing Center at UNC, she finds every shift to be a little different.
She said sessions with students vary from brainstorming ideas for assignments to providing reassuring feedback on polished pieces.
“Whatever stage of the writing process they’re in — they can come at any stage, and we can assist and just help them walk through it,” she said.
Fellow graduate writing coach Sam said that what makes each day as a writing coach unique is the diversity of the work that students bring in. Even when he helps multiple students with the same assignment or class, he said he often sees very different takes on a prompt.
He said the diversity of the student work brought into the Writing Center is mirrored by the diverse experiences and backgrounds of the coaches.
“We all have different styles, and we’ve got different students coming back to us,” Sam said. “Different students find different coaches more effective, but that’s part of the beauty of the diversity of backgrounds I think we bring.”
Sam, who studies information and library science, said that because the Writing Center values the input of students from all academic backgrounds, undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply even if they do not see themselves as a “natural fit.”
“We work with writers across campus and in all fields, so it’s an asset to have a staff that has a variety of backgrounds,” Alex Funt, the assistant director of the center, said. “That just makes us a stronger staff and helps with training and having people who have a nuanced sense of how writing is different across the University.”
There are opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students to work at the Writing Center. Graduate and undergraduate coaches are considered equal members of the staff and do the same job, but they each have their own distinct training and application requirements.
